Three days after the bombings here in Madrid -- time's passage easing the most sharply painful parts of the drama -- I find myself torn about what to report. I am not one for political affiliations or reporting on that strange world. Yet the complexity of Spain's situation, post-attacks, has become so complex, so volatile, that it's difficult to resist laying some of it out here (at the risk of boring the pants off most who happen across this page).
Demonstrations in response to the bombings were set for Friday evening, the call to take part coming from across the political spectrum, with politicians of every stripe participating, along with the royal family -- the first time they have ever done so -- and prominent figures from around Europe. This is the only occasion since my arrival here, midsummer 2000, in which I've seen Spain's political factions acting jointly. The more normal formation has the ruling party, el Partido Popular, on one side (sometimes supported by a teeny party based in the Canary Islands, sometimes not), everyone else on the other. Meaning rancorous displays in Parliament with little result, as the PP has had an absolute parliamentary majority since the elections of 2000, enabling it to withstand all verbal fireworks, then brush aside demands for investigations or changes in course by voting them down.
Today, coincidentally, is election day. [See entry of March 11.] On Thursday, with the news of the bombings and the growing sense of horror as a steady stream of brutal images flowed from every television channel, the two major parties suspended their election campaigns, pleading for unity, calling for all Spaniards to take part in demonstrations set for Friday evening.
Friday morning brought the first sign of disharmony and faltering civility via televised excerpts of an address by Gaspar Llamares, the point man/presidential candidate of la Izquierda Unida (United Left -- essentially Spain's current embodiment of the Communist Party), demanding that the government release all the information it had accumulated in the post-bombing investigation, the clear implication being that it had not done so, for political motives. Llamares has a general tendency to bitch and attack, with time I've paid him less and less attention, so changed the channel after getting the general gist of his shpiel.
Shortly after, I came across a bit of José María Aznar's Friday press conference in which he aggressively responded to questions in that same vein. Aggressive attacks are part of his m.o., usually carried out with a focused, cool, almost dispassionate efficiency. Though he responded with his usual intensity, his manner had a defensive, almost shaky quality I'd never seen before, catching my attention in a way that Llamares' accusations didn't. [Brief background: the government originally blamed the terrorist group ETA for the attack, an assumption initially shared by everyone, one that served the PP's election aims. With time, though, evidence began showing major inconsistencies with ETA's normal method of working, along with indications of possible involvement of al-Qa'ida (in addition to which ETA, usually quick to claim responsibility for their work, denied involvement in Thursday's bombings). Should that be the case, the election results may veer off in directions damaging to the PP, who dragged Spain into the invasion of Iraq against the wishes of 90+% of the population. For that reason, the government has been carefully backtracking from its original claims re: ETA, while continuing to insist they believe ETA to be responsible.]
Immediately after that, the Socialist party's point man/presidential candidate, Zapatero, gave an address in which he took the high road, reiterating calls for unity, reminding the country that the paramount concern should be for those directly affected by the bombings, for family and friends struggling to deal with the disaster, that political positioning had no place in the national mourning period. He expressed gratitude to police, firefighters, medical personnel and to those working to determine who was responsible for the attacks, repeating calls to everyone to take part in that evening's demonstrations.
Blah blah blah.
So. The language school I study at decided to remain open Friday evening instead of shutting down for the demonstrations like most of the rest of the city. I spoke with a friend during the afternoon, an American woman/classmate -- we decided to show up at school, see what happened from there, figuring they might come to their senses, turn the lights off, let us all go do the protest thing. She didn't show, didn't call to warn me she wouldn't show, I turned out to be the only idiot in my group to appear, while outside in heavily-falling rain, 2.3 million people filled the streets. Stores closed, restaurants shut down, everything gave way to the evening's main event.
Neither I, my instructor, Jesús, nor the only other instructor present -- a lovely, intelligent woman named Carolina -- could understand why we were there, but we went through the motions. On the way out, I heard the TV in the school office, poked my head in to see what was up. Onscreen, an enormous, sprawling mass of people packed the area around la Plaza de Colón, extending off into the surrounding districts of Madrid, the event in the process of finishing up.
Outside, a river of Spaniards in heavy-weather gear filled the street and sidewalks, streaming away from the center. I made the walk into Sol to see what might be happening, found a swirling mass of folks with flags, placards, candles, many clustered in front of el Ayuntamiento, where an impromptu shrine ran the length of the building -- candles, sheets of paper with machine-printed and handwritten messages, banners, flags, flowers. An outpouring of emotion I'd only seen rivaled in the anti-war demonstrations of a year ago. Scribbled messages had been left on whatever had been on hand -- pieces of paper, cardboard, newsprint, clothing -- many addressed to friends/loved ones dead or disappeared in the bombings, many from other places around Spain and the Hispanic world saying Hoy estamos madrileños.
A shaven-headed 30ish male in wet clothing roamed back and forth along the shrine, single-mindedly working to keep the growing accumulation of stuff reasonably dry, moving items closer to the building, re-taping up soggy messages. A sodden sheet of paper taped to the back of his shirt read NO ESTÁ LLOVIENDO -- EL CIELO ESTÁ LLORANDO. (IT'S NOT RAINING -- THE SKY IS CRYING.)
Time passed. I remained there for a while, eventually becoming aware of a voice off in the distance. Shouting, moving closer. An older male, yelling without pause, angry, bordering on enraged. People around me, many in family groups, looked at each other uncertainly, not prepared for the possibility of confrontation.
With all the people around I couldn't see the source of the anger, but I could hear him approaching. Until the tone of his voice changed a bit, its volume indicating he moved no closer. When it became clear his approach had indeed been halted, most returned their attention to the shrine, a 20-something couple near me glancing at each other, shrugging, moving closer together under their umbrella.
Curious, I moved to the edge of the crowd, saw three municipal cops escorting yelling man away from the building to the dividing island in the middle of the street. Yelling man -- 60ish, about 5'6", dressed neatly, with a trimmed gray beard -- held a collapsed black umbrella in one hand, a plastic bag from a clothing store in the other, appearing to contain a purchase. One of the officers talked with him -- the cop speaking normally, the older man yelling, disturbed about something -- the other two flanked the shouter until a patrol car appeared. They herded him gently into the back seat, closed the door, the patrol car moved slowly off.
I made my way gradually home through crowded streets, rain falling without let-up.
Yesterday, Saturday, evidence suggesting al-Qa'ida involvement accumulated in ways increasingly difficult to ignore, including the arrest of five men in connection with the bombings, among them three Moroccans. Political back-and-forth grew louder, angrier, Aznar and Interior Minister Acebes declaring that though all avenues of investigation were being followed, they still believed ETA to be responsible.
Yesterday evening, in the kitchen, I turned on the radio, tuned in Radio 5 ("¡Todo noticias!"), found myself listening to the PP's presidential candidate, Mariano Rajoy, stridently insisting that protestors gathered near PP headquarters in various cities were antidemocratic, breaking the law, trying to influence the vote through coercion. As he spoke, several thousand people stood in front of the Madrid PP offices not far from here, demanding full disclosure from the government.
On turning off the radio, I heard a racket here in the barrio, glanced outside to find crowds of people roaming the streets, banging on pots, beating drums, chanting, "¡Mentirosos! ¡Mentirosos!" ("Liars! Liars!") One group disappeared down one street, another appeared along a different street, beating on different noisemakers, chanting different words: "¡PP -- di la verdad!" ("PP -- tell the truth!") I worked here at the computer, had long phone conversations, got to bed late -- the entire time, protests came and went.
This morning's El País reported that protesters filled Sol until well after midnight, that demonstrations circulated through the city until 3 a.m.
A remnant of last night's demonstrations (culpable = guilty)
Sunday evening: election day has come and gone, the polls are closed, the votes are being tallied. According to the media, voter turnout is around 77.2% -- 8 percentage points higher overall than in 2000. Strong numbers that promise interesting results.
Headlines from today's dailies:
El País: Todos los indicios señalan a Al Qaeda (All indications point to Al Qaeda)
El Mundo: Investigadores españoles viajarán a Marruecos tras la pista islámica (Spanish investigators will travel to Morocco after the Islamic trail)
ABC: Un supuesto jefe de Al Qaida en Europa reivindica en un vídeo la masacre de Madrid (Videotape shows alleged chief of Al Qaida in Europe claiming responsibility for the massacre in Madrid)
La Razón: Tres de los cinco detenidos por su presunta implicación en el 11-M tienen antecedentes policiales (Three of five suspects arrested for alleged implication in 11-M have police records)
La Vanguardia: Al Qaeda confirma en un vídeo ser la autora de la masacre
(Al Qaeda claims in a videotape to be the author of the massacre)
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From an email sent yesterday by a Spanish friend, Luis Alberto -- a student of English, writing in English:
"These are sad days for us. I don't have enough fluency with English to express all my feelings about this tragedy. Perhaps my words and sentences are similar to those that children use, but it's exactly like I feel myself now, like a little child who doesn't understand the reason for so much death and destruction. I wish someone would answer why hundreds of people have been killed and their families and friends have been punished.
"I was at the big demonstration yesterday evening. During four hours walking under the intense rain, surrounded by friends and unknown people, I began feeling better. It wasn't raining -- Madrid was crying. And those tears falling on us didn't stop our shouts. We were more together than ever before, and our dead could be sure they would be remembered forever."
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One last note, written at 11:15 p.m. Madrid time.
Four days ago, the ruling party was expected to win another four years in power. The only question at that time was whether they would be able to hold on to their absolute majority in the Spanish parliament.
Then came the bombings, followed by the slow stream of revelations of possible al-Qa'ida involvement and the government's apparent withholding of information re: all that to preserve their position in today's elections.
All those elements have combined to light a fire under the electorate, producing a major upset: as of this evening, el Partido Popular has been voted out of power -- the Socialists have gained the Presidency and a parliamentary majority.
There will likely be some substantial changes coming. Among other things, the Socialists have promised to pull the Spanish armed forces out of Iraq by this summer if adminstration of the occupation does not shift to the U.N.
Time will tell.
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Madrid, te quiero.
rws 5:14 AM [+]